


Safe and Sound

by JehBeeEh



Series: Ahead by a Century [29]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Hurt Tony Stark, M/M, Minor Angst, Mostly Fluff, Steve Rogers Feels, Superhusbands (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:55:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22205977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JehBeeEh/pseuds/JehBeeEh
Summary: “Ok, don't freak out, Tony's fine. There's a car waiting for you outside, I need you to grab a change of clothes for Tony, I'll explain when you get here.”“Wait a second, Pepper, you can’t just say that… where's Tony? What happened?” Steve couldn’t help but to start to panic.“There was a car accident."
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Ahead by a Century [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1514069
Comments: 29
Kudos: 268





	Safe and Sound

**Author's Note:**

> Take a guess what movie I was watching when I wrote this. Ha!

The snow had been falling steadily for 24 hours now. It did look pretty, but it had made the whole city hard to navigate, even on foot. Steve had settled with his easel, finishing work on a painting he was making to display in his new office space. They'd had a lazier than usual morning, as Happy was stuck navigating the snowy streets. Tony had wanted to stay home and enjoy a snow day, but meetings that couldn't be moved took precedence.

The colours were coming together beautifully on the canvas, shades of pinks and oranges complimenting each other in the perfect reminder of a sunset Steve had remembered from this summer. He was too distracted to pay attention to his phone, until FRIDAY interrupted him.

“Sir, Ms. Potts has been calling for the past 10 minutes. You may want to pick up,” she offered. Tony was still working on getting their phones properly set up on the system, since their Brooklyn home wasn’t built with an AI in mind, unlike the penthouse in the tower had.

“Thanks FRIDAY,” Steve replied absentmindedly, as he left his work behind to go wash his hands. He made quick work of it, and went to grab his phone, trying to come up with something they could eat for dinner that night, when he noticed 5 texts and now 20 or so missed called from Pepper.

“What the hell…” he mumbled to himself as he called her back. “Pepper? Everything ok?”

“Oh Steve! Finally,” Pepper exclaimed when she answered.

“Sorry, I think I must have hit silent on my phone by accident and I was painting, so wasn’t near it. What's going on?”

“Ok, don't freak out, Tony's fine. There's a car waiting for you outside, I need you to grab a change of clothes for Tony, I'll explain when you get here.”

“Wait a second, Pepper, you can’t just say that… where's Tony? What happened?” Steve couldn’t help but to start to panic.

“There was a car accident. Tony is ok, I’ll explain the whole thing when you get here, I have to go, a nurse is here to talk to me. Steve, I promise, he's ok. I’ve got to go, I’m sorry.” And Pepper hung up.

Steve stared at his phone, not fully comprehending what had just happened. A car accident… there was a nurse, so that had to mean they were at the hospital, but why didn't Tony call him himself? Fear was starting to set in, when he remembered there was a car waiting outside for him. He tried to remember what Pepper had asked for as he went upstairs quickly. Clothes! He could grab clothes. Not being fully sure if Tony was going back to work, he grabbed another suit as well as a hoodie and some sweatpants. He threw a few more essentials in the bag, since he had no idea how long they might be at the hospital for, and off he went.

He almost asked where Happy was when he wasn’t the one picking him up, remembering then that their usual driver was in the car with Tony this morning. He had another flash of panic as he wondered if Happy was ok too. Steve was quiet during the slow ride to the hospital, both because he didn't know the driver, and because he was too caught up in his thoughts. Pepper had given him very little to go on. Tony was fine, but clearly in the hospital, but not well enough to call him. And, really, Pepper wouldn't have told him he wasn't ok and then hung up on him, so maybe he was in fact _not_ doing well, but she had tried to spare him? What if he had gotten badly hurt? He could be in a coma. The thoughts were spiraling in his head, getting progressively worse as they inched closer to the hospital – and gosh, did it ever feel like the longest car ride of Steve's life. He tried to quiet his mind, he did, but the overwhelming fear that something horrible may have happened just took over.

When they finally arrived at the hospital, Steve threw himself out of the car, yelling a quick thanks behind him as he rushed in. He quickly realized he had no idea where Tony would be. He looked around and spotted a nurse's station and decided to ask for assistance there.

“Hi, I’m looking for someone. Um, there was a car accident. Not sure when he was brought in. Stark, Tony. Might be under Anthony actually, I’m not even sure…” Steve trailed off when he realized he was babbling, and the nurse looked at him, unimpressed, when he finally gave her Tony's name.

“I’m really sorry, sir, I can't just give out a possible patient locations like that,” she replied as politely as she could, but clearly annoyed that someone was trying to get past her.

“What? No, he's my… we're together, I’m not just some random person!” Steve huffed out.

“Um, yeah, everyone knows that's Tony Stark's boyfriend,” the lady next to him chimed in, making Steve chuckle a bit.

“I’m sorry sir, I can't let you through, even if this random person can apparently vouch for you.”

Steve gave a quick thank you to the lady next to him, it was sweet of her to try – he quickly noticed she'd been eyeing his left hand suspiciously though. He grabbed his phone and called Pepper.

“Pepper? I’m here, but they won't tell me where to go,” Steve ran his hand over his face, trying to stay calm, but the frustration was starting to set in – both at not being given the information and still not knowing what happened.

“You're at the nurse's station by the entrance Trevor dropped you at? Ask for Theresa, and give her your phone, I’ll talk to her.”

“Ok…” Steve went back to the annoyed nurse and tried to smile. “Hi again. Would it be possible to speak to Theresa?”

“That would be me,” a lady behind her replied.

Steve smiled, as he handed his phone to her. “I have Pepper Potts on the phone for you?” Annoyed nurse now looked mortified. Steve smiled at her again as he waited for Pepper to work her magic.

“Mr. Rogers? Please follow me, I’ll take you to your husband,” Theresa smiled sweetly at Steve as she handed him back his phone.

“Thank you. Both of you.” Steve waved at the first nurse, who's jaw was now on the floor, probably after hearing Steve being referred to as Tony's husband. Even he had to admit it was odd hearing a stranger say it.

Steve was fidgeting with his phone during the elevator ride up the few floors to where Tony was. Nurse Theresa had to swipe in more times to get to that specific floor than Tony did to get to R&D at Stark Industries.

“Here we are,” she said as she swiped one more time. “Ms. Potts is waiting for you just down the hall. I’ll be back in an hour or so. I promise we are taking very good care of him for you. He's going to be just fine.” Theresa had the kindest smile as she spoke to Steve, grabbing his hand as she spoke to him.

“Thank you, I appreciate that.” And Steve truly did. It helped calm him just a bit before he headed in the direction she had pointed him in.

Pepper was standing just at the end of the hallway, on her phone. Even in the middle of a snowstorm, she was wearing her black patent Louboutin stilettos and her best power suit. She hung up as soon as she saw Steve and wrapped her arms around him as soon as he was within reach.

“I promise he is fine, Steve,” she started, as if reading his mind. He could only imagine how much of his worry was visible on his face if everyone kept reminding him Tony was fine.

“What happened? Is Happy ok?” he asked when she finally let him go.

“Sit down, I’ll explain everything, and you can see him. I just checked and he’s still asleep.” Pepper led him to some chairs and took a seat with him. She grabbed hold of his hand as soon as they sat down, smiling at him. He must have really looked miserable, ‘cause she again reminded him he was fine. “Him and Happy are ok, Steve. They were almost at the tower, stopped at a red light. When it changed, Happy got into the intersection, but unfortunately a car coming in the opposite direction wasn’t able to stop cause of all the snow, and there is a bad icy patch there too apparently. They hit the SUV's rear passenger side pretty hard -"

“That's where Tony always sits…” Steve cut her off.

“Luckily, Boss decided to sit up front with me today,” Happy cut in and explained, appearing behind Steve with two cups of coffee. “He had me trying to explain hockey to him. For a genius, he is slow at understanding this one.”

“Oh, you're ok!” Steve stood up and gave Happy a hug before he could do anything else, truly relieved to see he had nothing on him.

“I'm fine, Steve. I’m sorry this happened.”

“It sounds like it was in no way your fault though, no need to apologize.” Steve sat back down as Happy handed Pepper the second cup of coffee.

“It really wasn’t Happy's fault no,” Pepper continued. “Tony does have a few bumps and bruises, because of where they hit, but it could have been so much worse. He did sprain his right wrist, but it is minor. And he got a few pretty nasty cuts on his face, but they are really small. They just wanted to monitor him for a bit in case he might have a concussion, but his doctor didn't think that would be the case, he’s just being overly cautious. They did notice a bit of an irregular heartbeat when they got him in the ambulance, but they figure the arrhythmia was probably due to stress and adrenaline from the accident, that’s being monitored too, but he is otherwise absolutely fine. He’s having a nap right now.”

“So, he really is ok?” Steve heard himself say, he was still working on believing that it wasn’t more serious.

“I wouldn't have lied to you, Steve.” Pepper laughed as she squeezed his hand. “And, I'm sorry about the misunderstanding downstairs earlier, I am having all of Tony's info updated so that you are now the one they call should something happen, and the hospital does take their more famous clients seriously, and I forgot to mention you were coming. That one is on me.”

“It's ok, I’m not upset about that. Something tells me we might have to fess up to being married though now,” Steve gave her a small smile and explained someone had recognized him and he was wearing his band.

“Oh, that reminds me,” Pepper pulled out Tony's chain with his ring and placed it in Steve's hand. “They took it off since he is still on a few heart monitors, and I thought you might want to hang on to it.”

Steve clutched the ring in his hands, and looked at Pepper, trying to hold back tears now that he knew Tony was safe. “Can I see him, please?”

“Of course, sweetie. Come on.” Pepper led him to Tony's room as Happy offered to get Steve a coffee as well. “I’ll be in the hallway if you need anything. When he wakes up, just hit the call button over there.” She closed the door behind her as Steve thanked her again.

Steve walked to the bed where Tony was sleeping and brushed some stray hairs from Tony's forehead, careful not to wake him. He placed a gentle kiss where the strands sat a moment before, whispering “I'm here, sweetheart. I love you.”

He had watched Tony sleep numerous times before, one of the advantages of waking up before him every morning, but this was definitely different. There were wires coming from the monitors Pepper had mentioned, more than Steve had expected. He had pulled up a chair next to the bed, and held on to Tony's left hand, since the right was wrapped up and he worried about hurting him. He couldn't tear his eyes away from Tony's face. He knew every line and curve of that beautiful face, which made it all the more strange to see the small bandages covering the different cuts.

There was a knock at the door and Happy poked his head in with Steve's coffee.

“Here you go,” Happy said as he handed him the paper cup. “I, um… I really do feel bad that this happened, Steve.”

“Happy, I know it wasn’t your fault, you do not need to feel guilty here. I’m so relieved he was sitting in front with you. And that you’re both OK.”

“You and I both. He was being so ridiculous going on about how hockey made no sense and he couldn't understand why you loved it so much. I spent the whole ride explaining ‘icing' to him.”

Steve chuckled. “I was watching the game last night and he came up from his workshop early and watched it with me a bit. I had to pause and rewind and explain why the puck was offside for 20 minutes. He is trying, I’ll give him that.”

“Oh, he really is. Anyways, I’ll leave you two alone. Let me know if you need anything.”

“I will. And, Happy? Thank you. For everything. I don't think I tell you enough.” Steve truly hoped Happy knew just how much he meant the words.

“Just doing my job,” he replied, clapping a hand on Steve’s shoulder before leaving.

Steve went back to looking at Tony for a bit, taking stock of the injuries he could see, and trying not to focus too much on the machines in the room. He took out his phone and began to reply to a few emails, but mostly messaging Bucky and Natasha with what had happened before they inevitably heard about it from some media outlet. He never let go of Tony's hand.

An hour later, not long after nurse Theresa came to quickly check on Tony, he was starting to drift off himself when a voice quickly brought him back to the present.

“Can we please move to Malibu? No snowstorms there.” Tony asked, a boyish grin on his face as he looked at Steve.

“You'd miss it before I did,” Steve answered sweetly, sitting himself on the bed to be closer to Tony, his eyes on the deep brown ones looking at him. “How you feeling?”

“ ‘m okay. Just sore.” Tony answered, closing his eyes again for a minute. When he opened them again, he quickly noticed Steve's watery gaze on him. “Honey, what's wrong?”

“I’m just so relieved that you’re ok and awake… This is really stupid, I know. You're fine! I guess I half expected everyone had been lying to me or something.” Steve huffed out between sobs.

“Hey, no! Not stupid. I would be besides myself if it were reversed. You are right though, I'm absolutely fine. Worse we got to deal with is me going stir crazy until this hand heals.” Steve couldn't contain a laugh at that. “You are stuck with me for a good long while.”

“Wouldn't have it any other way.” Steve ran his free hand down Tony's cheek, managing to stop the tears that had been flowing before for himself. “I’m supposed to call the doctor now that you’re awake, but I kinda want to keep you all to myself a bit longer.”

“Faster I get checked out, faster we can go home and cuddle though.”

“Fair point. I’ll get the doctor.” Steve kissed Tony before going to the button Pepper had pointed out.

Within minutes Pepper followed a doctor in the room.

“I don't think we've met yet, I’m Dr. Erskine,” the man introduced himself, extending a hand to Steve.

“Nice to meet you, sir. Steve Rogers,” he shook his hand as Dr. Erskine turned to Tony with a smile.

“I thought you said you'd finally settled down, Mr. Stark?”

“I did!” Tony answered defensively. “We need to have a chat about names at some point, Mr. _Rogers._ ” Tony glared playfully at Steve.

“I would agree, _Mr. Stark_ ,” Steve answered in the same tone.

“Well, congratulations. I have known Tony for some years now. I’m happy to finally see him settle down.”

Steve could only smile at the comment, as the doctor fussed around Tony, checking his vitals and reviewing the data from the various machines.

“I think it is safe to say, when it comes to injuries from this morning's events, other than some soreness and your wrist, I cannot see anything else of concern. However, I would like to run a few more tests for this arrhythmia we've stumbled upon. I'm not seeing a major concern right now, maybe it is completely due to the stress of this morning, but I’d like to make sure. We will schedule something in a few weeks, once you are better, yeah?”

“Sounds good, doc.”

“Now, I need you to take it easy until then. Good luck with that, Mr. Rogers.” Dr. Erskine shot a smile to Steve.

“You are really going to be unbearable, won't you?” Steve glanced at Tony.

“Hey! Maybe he meant good luck keeping your hands off me,” Tony supplied, wagging his eyebrows.

“Tony!” Steve was blushing furiously.

“The man is my doctor, Steve! He was bound to find out about our raging sex life at some point.”

“Pepper is right there! Can he stay here for the next two weeks, please?” Steve asked the doctor.

“The last time we kept him here over night, three of our nurses quit. I don’t think we can do two weeks. I can prescribe something though.” Doctor Erskine answered jokingly.

“I'm right here! Come on.” Tony chimed in.

“Fine, can I take him home now?” Steve asked, smiling sweetly at Tony.

“Yes you can. I’ll sign off on your discharge papers while you get changed. Hospital gowns are not made for this weather.” The doctor grabbed his chart and left the room.

“Oh shit! Pepper, I forgot the bag in the car,” Steve realized as Tony was getting out of bed.

“Yes you did, but Trevor brought it back once he realized. Everything is fine,” Pepper replied, placing the bag on the bed.

“I'm so sorry Pepper. You should not have to be dealing with that…” Steve answered apologetically.

“It's ok. One of my missions in the next few months is finding Tony a new assistant, actually. On that note, I will head back to the office. Take care of him Steve, and call if you need anything.” Pepper came to kiss Tony's cheek and hug Steve before heading out with both men thanking her.

Steve helped Tony change, the brunette being much more sore than he realized. Tony was still sitting on the bed, his legs on either side of Steve standing in front of him, as he was kissing him when Dr. Erskine came back in. Tony just rested his head on Steve's chest as he listened to the doctor explain some pain meds he was giving him, in case the soreness became too much to bear.

“Thanks doc. I’ll see you in a few weeks.”

“Yes, I’ll have my office call you. And, by the way, I did not mean Mr. Roger’s needed to keep his hands to himself Tony. But he may need to do most of the heavy lifting if you’re up for it. Have a good day, gentlemen.” Dr. Erskine exited the room with one last smile towards Tony and Steve.

Steve tried hiding his ridiculously red face in Tony's hair, but Tony was laughing too hard and collapsed backwards on the bed.

“Oh my God, it hurts to laugh this much, but your face right now is so worth it, babe!”

“Let's get you home before I leave you here out of spite.” Steve mumbled, grabbing Tony's bag and helping him up. They met Happy in the hallway and walked towards the elevator together.

“Shouldn't you carry me? Doc did say you needed to do the heavy lifting.” Tony stated.

“Dumbass…”

“I'm your dumbass.” Tony lifted his left hand. “Forev – hey, wait a second, where did my ring go?”

“It's on my pinky, and I am seriously questioning giving it back right now.” Steve had pressed the elevator button and looked at Tony sideways.

“Wow, we have very different definitions of _forever_.” They smiled at each other, Steve wrapping his arms around Tony for a quick hug.

“I'm happy you’re ok.” Steve slid the ring off his pinky and back on Tony's left hand, kissing it like he had on their wedding day. He smiled sweetly before kissing Tony's lips this time.

“I still think you should be carrying me…” Tony replied as the elevator doors opened.

“That's it, gimme that ring back, now!”

**Author's Note:**

> This is a weird mash up of a million things that were happening as I started writing this... We've had a bunch of weird little storms here since the idea started forming, as mentioned at the top, some characters from a certain Marvel movie showed up cause I was watching the movie, and a bunch of the dialogue somehow happened in real life (the 'I'm your dumbass forever' one especially. ha ha!). Anyways, all is good and fine, and seriously, I want to move to Malibu, I hate snow.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! <3


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